Escape

By An Anonymous Student

Deep breath filled with salty escape,

I walk down the aged wooden steps.

Each flight down gifts a soft breeze.

Rocks welcome my last step,

smooth and chilled, padded by satin seaweed.

The calm lucid lake

shines a smile back at me.

To my left a weathered wooden kayak

nestled under the trees

calls for an adventure.

My hand slides across the glossy frame,

contoured with pieces of trees united into fitted strips.

I pull it to the shoreline

where the waves kiss the wood

and push off.

The sound of water hugging the paddle

sends ripples of goosebumps across my skin

as the swells carry me.

Time meaningless, but sanctuary surrounding,

I could drift forever.

But forever doesn’t care, and time is heard.

I paddle back to shore,

and step out onto the rocks, but the water clutches my ankles

whispering to stay.

I can’t listen.

I drown out the calls to leave,

but I take one last look back, for mental snapshot.

The leaves curl goodbye and the breeze pushes my depart.

I walk up the steps and part my escape for reality.